By: Gabriela Yareliz
“Does Mike Sullivan still have a job? Because he certainly does not have a team,” is what is on everyone’s mind after the New York Rangers’ final score yesterday. It was a 10-2 game with the Boston Bruins. Mike Sullivan’s words after the game were, “I don’t have words.” (NY Post Source) That’s rich coming from a coach who seems to justify every loss and explains it away week after week while our jaws hit the floor.
Here’s the thing, Mike Sullivan, we don’t have words either. My favorite detail from the NY Post’s Mollie Walker report on this game was that Boston was blasting Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop [Scoring]” two-thirds into the game. The Rangers “can’t stop” either— “can’t stop [sucking].” (My savage words not Walker’s).
The only person I felt bad for was Jonathan Quick, our fearless goalie. He is, arguably, the best American goalie who is playing in this league. Not only does he have the best stats, but he has swagger. Quick always shows respect for the game, and he is not afraid to lay hands. I’ll never forget that night that he made 40 saves. QUICK IS LEGEND.
The Post reports he stopped 14/20 shots before he was pulled. What this tells us is that the goalie was not the problem. When this team keeps losing games and his stats are still the best in the NHL, it tells us what Steve Valiquette is always reminding us of— they have the best man in that net, and they leave him out to dry. If Quick was not in these games, the score would be more absurd. (Thank God this was an ESPN game because if it was MSG, poor Valiquette would have had an aneurysm speaking the truth while trying to keep his job after that Bruins game). I am sure Valiquette would have described this game like last season’s Calgary game (#neverforget). “Toxic.” #honestSteve
So, they abandoned Jonathan Quick in net. I loved when the camera panned to Jonathan Quick on the bench. He looked so annoyed. He had a sort of cynical smirk as he chewed his gum. He knew that pulling him was not going to fix the situation. It indeed didn’t based on the final score.
It’s interesting that Coach Sullivan suddenly has “no words.” Did he say that because the game was nationally televised, and he feels he can’t lie to ESPN? Because had this happened on the MSG Network, he would have fed the media his usual press conference bs- “we deserved to win”, “we had a lot of good looks but didn’t capitalize on them,” “we played well” and “I am proud of the boys.” This is a coach who has repeatedly gaslit the media and fans and has shown he is ok with losing. (And apparently he thinks we are stupid and blind, adding insult to injury). The team has absorbed this permission to lose.
This is the validation the mediocre players sought out of former coach Peter Laviolette. This never happened with Peter Laviolette. Peter was so pissed at them he could barely look at them at the end of last season. He only yelled at them, basically. But one thing Laviolette never did was make it be ok that they lost. He never justified mediocrity.
Laviolette, when he had no words, he would angrily walk up to the press conference mic and say, “That was unacceptable. Trash,” and then, he would walk away. Ten seconds of honesty on the mic— the entire press conference. So they fired him (when obviously he wasn’t the problem), and now they installed a coach who is a problem. Sullivan doesn’t call the Rangers to more; instead, he calls the spectators to delusion.
The only good thing coming out of this absurd spiral is Laviolette’s vindication. He was right about this team. They don’t play; they just steal their salaries. How is it that the club can’t sue them for breach of contract? That is beyond me. As an attorney, I would love to give it a try. They aren’t playing, so why are they making millions?
Hilariously, what is trending is that GM Drury wants to trade Panarin who won’t sign onto staying in this dumpster fire (who can blame him). I think players like Panarin and Quick can sign elsewhere and not end their careers in this pit of despair. Quick certainly deserves a team, not a bunch of idiots he has to carry on his back. There is only so much the all-star goalie can do. Players with pent-up potential, like Rempe, should flee so that they can actually develop into the players that they can be.
General Manager Chris Drury is a major problem. If the owner of the team cared at all, Drury would be the first to get fired. Next, Coach Sullivan, who has cemented the level of mediocrity we watch every other night (and thinks it’s fine), and next, the veteran players making millions who don’t score, game after game, including Mika. (Mika’s wild inconsistency reads to me that he simply does not care as long as he gets paid).
Bleacher Report Open Ice gave the teams a mid-season report card. The New York Rangers earned an F. If there was lower than an F, they would have it.
Laviolette tried his best and squeezed out of this team what he could before they collapsed into their collective lobotomy. But again, losing was never ok for Laviolette. They fired him anyway. There is no team left worth anything, but the difference this season is we have a coach who isn’t pushing for excellence. So before we talk about Panarin, I say we start with Drury and Sullivan. I would have fired them six months ago, but definitely, yesterday after that 10-2 game. The question remains, as we began, how do they still have jobs?
Until mediocre leadership is cleaned out of this house, no one will rise to the occasion (except Jonathan Quick). Quick values excellence, so even with a sinking team, he will still do his heroics and keep his stats tight. Quick is unwilling to throw away his career, unlike the rest of the players.
The longer we keep Drury and Sullivan, the fewer words we will have at the end of these games. Then, people will stop watching all together, season ticket holders will stop wasting their money, and there will be no words at all.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 